Jax shook his head to all the questions, bringing up his hand and circling his thumb against Tara's shoulder. "Need a place where I'd feel all right if the boys got thumb prints on the walls," he said. Maybe it would have suited Chicago-Tara, the woman who'd separated and set out, but now it didn't sit right. It was a home for refinement and good behavior, not laughter and a barbecue.

"If I can't picture Bobby in the backyard singing Suspicious Minds, it just won't work."